Bayle, Pierre (1647-1706)

Pierre Bayle was born 18 November 1647 at Carla in southern France, the son of a Reformed pastor. As a student in Toulouse, Bayle was persuaded to accept the Catholic faith, but in the next year (1670) returned to the Reformed Church. In 1681 he was made professor of philosophy in Rotterdam, where he died on 28 December 1706, having lost his position in 1693 because of his liberal views and supposed political intrigues. He stood for toleration on the ground that the state could have no jurisdiction in matters of faith, and found both the Catholics and the Reformed authorities opposed to him. His most important work, Dictionnaire historique et critique (1695 f.), contained a treatise on the Anabaptists. It showed the current one-sided conception of the origin of the Anabaptists and their development. On the other hand, the unusually copious notes contained a great deal of interesting material important to our history